25-911, U.S. Army South Exercise: Southern Vanguard 24 [PDF - 4.4 MB]
The U.S. Army South (USARSOUTH) SOUTHERN VANGUARD series of exercises is built to enhance relationships, promote mutual military readiness, and increase interoperability between the United States and Western Hemisphere forces. This annual exercise is a cornerstone for USARSOUTH to establish the foundation for lasting integrated deterrence with select partner nations across the U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) area of responsibility (AOR). Although executed at the tactical level, the exercise is proving to have an operational impact at the Army-to-Army level. To better prepare for SOUTHERN VANGUARD, partner-nation (PN) companies go to the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC).
The first iteration, ExSV21 command post exercise (CPX) was conducted 11 to 31 August 2021, in Portillo, Chile. This exercise was designed as USARSOUTH’s pilot program, and future rotations have built on what was learned. This included adjusting force structure, command and control (C2), training objectives, doctrinal communication, and long-term funding procurement. During ExSV21, USARSOUTH established the exercise control group (ECG) and the Chilean Army formed the higher headquarters white cell. Participating units came from the U.S. Army’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, and the Chilean Army’s 3rd Mountain Division. Combined forces at the company level conducted cold weather, survival, medical evacuation, movement and maneuver, and mountain warfare training under the tutelage of the Chilean Army Mountain School.
The second iteration, ExSV22 CPX was conducted 29 November to 5 December 2021, in Lorena, Brazil, later moving to Resende, Brazil. USARSOUTH established the ECG and the Brazilian Army (BRAAR) formed the higher headquarters white cell. Participating units came from the U.S. Army’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and BRAAR’s 12th Infantry Brigade (Air Mobile). ExSV22 merged the BRAAR’s Land Operations Command (Comando de Operações Terrestres [COTER])-sponsored Combined Operations and Rotations Exercise (CORE) 21 with the USSOUTHCOM-sponsored ExSV22. A first of its kind, not only by committing the largest U.S. Army conventional force ever sent to train in Brazil, but also by integrating separate national exercises into one. The exercise established C2 under a battalion-level combined task force (CTF) headquarters (Task Force Brazilian Infantry Light [TF BIL]). Additionally, this rotation included the Georgia Army National Guard’s (GAARNG) 1st Battalion, 54th Security Force Assistance Brigade (SFAB) (1st SFAB), which was keenly positioned across tactical echelons conducting its doctrinal security force assistance (SFA) mission to “assess, train, advise, and assist” the foreign security force.
The third iteration, ExSV23 CPX was conducted 30 October to 18 November 2022, at Tolemaida Military Base, Colombia. Before the start of (the training) exercise (STARTEX), teams from the 1st SFAB, already positioned in Colombia supporting USARSOUTH Operation ALAMO SHIELD (OAS), completed select training and advising with Colombian Army forces (ARFOR) on multiple warfighting functions to be better prepared for ExSV23.
USARSOUTH established the ECG and the Colombian Army formed the higher headquarters white cell. Participating units came from the Illinois Army National Guard’s (ILARNG) 130th Infantry Regiment, 33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, working shoulder-to-shoulder with the Colombian Army battalion commander and staff formed under a battalion-level CTF headquarters (CTF SCORPION). Of note, the BRAAR and Peruvian Army sent observers. This rotation once again included the 1st SFAB. Its ever-expanding regional SFA experience and mentorship proved invaluable to the CTF and down-trace units.
U.S. and Colombian forces executed weapon familiarization lanes and medical evacuation training, culminating in a combined maneuver exercise. ExSV23 had an overarching objective to improve interoperability between the U.S. and Colombian forces. The exercise objectives across the human, technical, and procedural interoperability domains were considered. Interoperability observations were analyzed and assessed in the context of tactical, operational, and strategic operational environments across the warfighting functions and mission sets. This included the exercise’s premier training event of a combined air assault operation.
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